CATEGORY 48 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST AUSTRALIAN DENTISTRY AWARDS Australian Dental Awards 2025: The Winners’ Roundtable Talks (PART 4) Ruthy Hernandez – Patient Care (Joint Winner, with Dr Daniel Tan & Associates) The Ruthy Clinic The Ruthy Clinic had been open for less than a year when it took joint honours in the category its founder cares most about — a result owed to decisions made before the doors opened. “When I created The Ruthy Clinic, I wanted it to feel less like a traditional dental clinic and more like a home,” says founder and principal dentist Ruthy Hernandez. “We considered all five senses when designing the patient experience — from our signature Ruthy Clinic scent and calming music to our meticulously clean, minimalist surroundings and thoughtfully chosen textures and furnishings. Much of our furniture was handcrafted in the Philippines, where I am originally from, so there is a very personal part of my heritage woven into the clinic.” The physical environment is the easier half of the equation. “But the heart of The Ruthy Clinic is our people,” she says. “Whether you’re answering the phone, reassuring a nervous patient or providing treatment, every interaction matters. Patient care doesn’t belong to one clinician or department — it belongs to all of us.” The standard is kept live through a single recurring question she puts to her team: “How can I make this person’s experience better today?” Her clinical philosophy is stated with By Danny Chan Three more winners from the 2025 Australian Dental Awards on the standards, systems and instincts that carried them to the stage A 16-year-old starts dental nursing in Leeds and, twenty-eight years later, accepts an award in Melbourne from a professor with roots in the same city. A dentist ships furniture handcrafted in the Philippines to her Australian clinic so that patients might feel they have walked into a home rather than a surgery. A practice hands a patient a 3D-printed smile to try on before a single tooth is prepared. In part four of our Roundtable Talks, we present more varying perspectives from three very different winners at the Australian Dental Awards 2025. similar economy. “My philosophy has always been: treat the person, not just the teeth. Their story is far more interesting than their cavity.” In practice that means a conservative, evidence-based and deeply personalised approach, and a willingness to withhold intervention. “I believe in preserving what is healthy and never recommending treatment simply because we can. Sometimes, doing less is the best care.” Leadership, in her account, is inseparable from that clinical posture. “I lead by example and hold myself to the same standards I expect from my team. Clinical excellence is important, but so are kindness, empathy, integrity and attention to detail. You can be technically excellent, but if a patient doesn’t feel heard or respected, I don’t believe we have delivered exceptional care.” The win landed accordingly. “Of all the awards we could receive, Patient Care means so much because it represents the very heart of why The Ruthy Clinic exists,” Hernandez says. “The first people I thought of were my team. This award belongs to every one of them because exceptional care is created through hundreds of small moments every day.” If the recognition has done anything to the practice’s trajectory, it has been to hold it steady. “For me, this recognition doesn’t change our direction — it reinforces it,” she says. “As we grow, I never want us to lose what makes The Ruthy Clinic feel personal.” Rochelle Fisher – Dental Nurse of the Year Dental Assisting and Beyond Through Dental Assisting and Beyond, Rochelle Fisher works with practices across Australia and New Zealand, delivering education, mentoring and in-practice training across surgical and implant dentistry, infection prevention and control, four-handed dentistry, ergonomics, patient communication and team development. She has also stayed chairside on purpose, so that what she teaches remains anchored in the daily realities faced by the nurses and assistants she trains. The organising idea behind all of it has a name. “My philosophy is what I call ‘The Team Approach.’ Excellent patient care is never delivered by one person alone. Every member of the dental team contributes to the patient’s safety, comfort and overall experience.”
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